I missed some of this month's bad weather by escaping to Cyprus for the first ten days of this month however it is still so cold at this end of the month that that frost remains permanently on grass in the shade of the house. At the other end of the garden though it is often warm enough in the sun to work bare-armed. In the side border snowdrops are flourishing and a few crocuses (even fewer than last year) have survived the onslaught of voranges.

 

This year catkins have at last appeared on the self sown hazel.

 

 

One neighbours has been complaining for some time that my stand of six Leylandii at bottom left was blocking his light. I took advantage of my son Johnstaying with me for a few days to ask him to cut the off the main trunks at about four feet.

I did not want to face a mess every time I looked down to the bottom of the garden so we left the bottom branches intact and cut the main trunks behind them lower than their tips. This has worked so well that when Mark, my elder son, came over he thought we had not cut them at all (even though they were only half their former height)
I hope the neigbours are prepared to put up with the eyesore facing them in return for extra light.

The fallen trunks covering the vegetable beds	The lopped trees from the rear	The lopped trees from the front